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Disclaimer: Obviously I am not a doctor and am aware everyone is different so consult with your doctor to see what is best for you and your baby. Only sharing my journey and what has worked for me and baby b. I have compiled some tips that were helpful for me when I found out I was pregnant.
This is my first child and I am learning more and more each day on my pregnancy journey. And for all those first time moms like me, we’re all in this together 🙂 I honestly have no idea what I’m doing but love to share with y’all what I’ve been experiencing and learning along the way.
When you first get that confirmation on a pregnancy test that you are in fact expecting, there are so many thoughts going through your head and you have no idea where to begin. You don’t know who you want to share the news with and you automatically run to google to see what you should do next.
Well sadly, there’s no perfect guide out there for us new moms and we learn along the way. I wanted to share with y’all the first things I did and bought when I first found out I was pregnant and maybe I can help you in doing so.
Schedule a Doctor’s Appointment
Although your doctor can’t see you until you’re in the 8-10 week mark, go ahead and set up your appointment. We found out we were pregnant at 4 weeks, so I had a long time to think about this doctor’s appointment.
My doctor is normally always booked, so I wanted to make sure I scheduled this right away and gave them a call the day I found out. Once it’s scheduled, let the countdown begin.
Take Prenatal Vitamins
My doctor told me that whenever I was ready to get off birth control and start trying to get pregnant to start taking prenatal vitamins. I started taking these back in April and haven’t stopped ever since.
If your pregnancy was a surprise and unplanned, it’s never too late to start taking them! Doctors recommend them all through pregnancy and there are SO many options, it’s seriously overwhelming.
I’ve been taking two kinds and you can find them at Whole Foods. I take the Rainbow Light prenatals, which I like because they have them for specific stages in your pregnancy. I also take the Nordic Naturals Prenatal DHA in the Strawberry flavor because I hate that fish oil aftertaste.
Pregnancy App
I downloaded the Ovia Pregnancy App to track my pregnancy journey. I was already using the Ovia Fertility and Cycle Tracker when I got off birth control just so I could track my cycle. It also lets you know when you’re in the fertile stage but I never really looked at it. It did help me get a sense of where I was in my pregnancy once I made the switch to Ovia Pregnancy.
It gives you an estimate of when you’re due and shows you week by week the progress of your baby’s growth. You can also log in your symptoms and doctor’s appointments. What I loved about this it’s that it has a section on food glossary and you can look up what you can eat and what you should stay away from in your pregnancy.
Change in Diet
This is a given but obviously the biggest change when you find out you’re pregnant is your change in diet. Bye bye alcohol and everything else on my favorites list!
I think the things I miss most during my pregnancy are kombucha, Red Bull, sushi, smoked salmon, charcuterie, steak tartare, medium rare steak and oysters. Pretty much everything LOL.
For me, alcohol wasn’t really a big deal and don’t really miss it. Although Logan knows to greet me with a bottle of Veuve once I can drink again 🙂 Like I said, the Ovia app really helped me a lot when figuring out what I can and cannot eat. I was so paranoid googling everything. It was also really helpful when I talked to my doctor during my first appointment about it.
Baby Books
There’s obviously a lot of learning to do as a first time mom and I needed something to help my anxiety. A couple of my friends are moms already, so I reached out to them to see if they had any baby books I could borrow. My friend Kristina hooked me up and let me borrow like ten books, including one for my husband! I’m not gonna lie, they’re a little overwhelming but a lot of good stuff out there!
I of course bought the pregnancy bible aka What to Expect When You’re Expecting. People did share with me that normally mom to be’s are always interested in reading about pregnancy and the journey and less likely to get books about the actual baby and what to do after the baby arrives. So I made sure I had a good balance in topics and definitely want to focus more on the care of the baby!
Maternity Jeans
Lastly, you never know when the time will come that you are in need of maternity jeans. It seriously happened overnight for me. I had one pair of jeans I relied on because I had sized up when I bought them a while back but then when those didn’t fit I knew I was in trouble.
Luckily, I will be pregnant during the fall/winter so I am going to rely a lot on leggings during this pregnancy. I do recommend investing in 1-2 pairs of really good maternity jeans. I currently only own one pair of these Joe’s maternity jeans. They were a little on the pricey side but I always wear them (they were on sale though!).
My husband hates that I’m always wearing ripped jeans so I’m going to buy one pair of a dark wash without holes and call it a day. Some of the brands I have looked into and have also gotten recommendations for are Good American, Paige, AG, Madewell and Old Navy. Let me know if you have any favorites!
If you have any advice for first time moms leave it under the comments 🙂
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